Explaining the Architectural Components of Healing Spaces in Therapeutic Use to Reduce Stress (Looking at Ulrich's Supportive Design Theory)

Esmaili , NavidReza; Zamani, Mahbubeh; Vafai , Farzaneh

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Esmaili N, Zamani M, Vafai F. Explaining the Architectural Components of Healing Spaces in Therapeutic Use to Reduce Stress (Looking at Ulrich's Supportive Design Theory). MEJDS 2024; 14 :39-39
URL: http://jdisabilstud.org/article-1-3013-en.html

Explaining the Architectural Components of Healing Spaces in Therapeutic Use to Reduce Stress (Looking at Ulrich's Supportive Design Theory)

NavidReza Esmaili¹

, Mahbubeh Zamani ^*¹

, Farzaneh Vafai²

1- PhD student in Architecture, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran
2- Department of Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract: (1517 Views)

Abstract
Background & Objectives: Stress is an external factor that causes behavioral and physiological reactions and arousal. One of the factors that increase stress is the built environment. The built environment, or in some way architecture, is the space a person spends during the day and night. For this reason, the importance of architectural space in creating stress cannot be ignored. Therapeutic environments are spaces that induce a lot of stress on users. These inherently stressful environments have a negative impact on the patient, companions, and even staff. Despite the importance of this issue, no measures have been taken to relieve the stress of medical environments. Researchers have proposed a term called "healing spaces" in recent years. This issue states that architecture has a remarkable ability to heal people. Many studies have emphasized and studied various architectural components to measure this issue. Ulrich, who emphasized an evidence–based plan, is a pioneer of this theory.
Methods: In this research, the existing literature and theoretical foundations in this field have been examined using the systematic review research method. Different key criteria, such as keywords, year of publication, validity of publications, and language of articles, were analyzed for review. Keywords include healthy built environment, healthy environment, architectural components, health, and hospital. Also, the year of publication of the articles was limited to 2000 to 2020, and the language of the articles was chosen in English. The credibility of the publications is also selected based on their rank. Reliable English websites were also used for searching. After extracting the data, two experts checked and confirmed the evaluation data. Based on the review results, architectural components were extracted.
Results: The components include light (natural light, artificial light), sound (acoustics, soundscape), air (temperature, ventilation), color, art, furniture (one bedroom), and naturalism (green space in the building, green building, view of nature, garden therapy, sound of nature). The results show light has many direct psychological and physiological effects on humans. The amount of sunlight in hospital rooms affects the mental health of patients; reducing the use of painkillers and stress, and even daylight, can have a greater effect on the treatment of depression. Also, daylight minimizes the rate of hospitalization, mortality, the interval between nursing care, medical errors, and pain in the central nervous system. Regarding artificial light, cold and white fluorescent light has negative effects on the human body; autistic children are more distracted under this light, it causes seizures in epilepsy patients, and people with Alzheimer disease are more agitated. The sound component is also the primary source of sleep disturbance due to increasing stress in therapeutic environments. In addition, stress caused by noise causes emotional and occupational burnout among nurses and increases medical errors. The air component is also important to create thermal comfort and proper ventilation to prevent infection. Color creates a state of excitement in a person, affects people's psyche, and greatly impacts the treatment process. Art, another architectural component, reduces stress and distracts people. Regarding the furniture, the results emphasize the room with one bed so that in addition to lowering the disturbing noise, it also provides the context for the presence of the family. Naturalism is considered one of the most effective components of stress reduction, which positively affects blood pressure reduction, pulse rate, heart rate, brain signals, and excitement. Ulrich's supportive design theory is one of the important theories in the field of stress reduction.
Conclusion: This theory emphasizes three principles: perceived personal control, access to positive distractions, and access to social support. The present research shows that the components of healing spaces in therapeutic use are consistent with Ulrich's supportive design theory. The principle of perceived personal control includes the elements of light, sound, and air. The principle of positive distraction also applies to the components of color, art, and naturalism. Also, the principle of social support applies to furniture and single bedrooms. Therefore, architecture has excellent power in reducing the stress of therapeutic spaces, which architects can use to respond best to the user's needs.

Keywords: Architecture, Healing spaces, Therapy, Stress, Ulrich's theory

Full-Text [PDF 995 kb] (389 Downloads)

Type of Study: Systematic Review Article | Subject: Architecture

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